The Church of San Cataldo, a landmark on the Palermo skyline, sits above the charming seventeenth-century Piazza Bellini and is one of the most distinctive buildings of the historic centre. It is just one of the city’s many examples of Norman-Arabic architecture, it’s red domes and exotic style drawing visitors towards it. Built around 1154 as a private chapel for the Admiral Maione di Bari, one of the most important members of the court of King Guglielmo I, it still retains it’s original structure which is characterised by simple and hieratic Norman architecture borrowed from previous Bizantine and Arabic architectural traditions.
Although the internal walls are bare, the church boasts an original mosaic floor realised in the antique opus sectile tradition, spolia capitols that date from Roman times and a tiled altar engraved with images of the Four Evangelists.
The church was trasformed into a post office during the reign of the Bourbons and then reconsecrated in 1937 by the order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. The church remains in their care today and in 2011 they handed the management of the site to the Amici Dei Musei Siciliani, which opens up the church to visitors daily.

Visiting Times:
Everyday 9.30-12.30 15.00-18.00
Closed 25th December and 15th August
31 December 9.30-12.30
1 Gennaio 15.00-18.00

Address
Piazza Bellini, 1 – Palermo

Full ticket: 2.50
Reduced ticket: 1.50

Reduction for groups of 10 and for Circuito del Sacro ticket holders

 

Special thanks to Laura Williams for her translation